


One and the Same

by ReticentResolve



Category: Persona 4, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Basically Kanji's gonna be there in Stardust Crusaders, Crossover, I shoved the events of Persona 4 back a couple years to make this work, The End
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-04 19:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15848169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReticentResolve/pseuds/ReticentResolve
Summary: Kanji Tatsumi had graduated high school with the highest grades he had gotten in 6 years, and with some convincing, he was able to get a scholarship to study teaching, so long as he spent 2 full semesters at a college in Egypt.While there, he catches the attention of a certain recently awoken vampire, and subsequently finds himself in the company of the Stardust Crusaders.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so just a little bit of a preface. This is sort of a headcanon, but I like to imagine that when Kanji gets older, he changes his style a little bit to look a bit more like his concept art: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/megamitensei/images/7/76/Kanji-Concept1.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/325?cb=20090519121431  
>  You know, stops dying his hair, gets glasses, and kind of starts looking like a more classy greaser.  
>  Now, don't get me wrong, I love Kanji's design, and him as a character, and nothing but his looks are going to change in this. Maybe a wee bit more mature and a bit more flamboyant, cause of the whole 'accepting his shadow thing' but that's it.  
>  And I need to mess with the timelines a little bit to make this work. Stardust Crusaders starts in 1988, so I'm pushing back the Persona 4 dates to make this work. So instead of 1996, he was now born 1968. Kay? We goo? Yeah, we goo.

    "Four tickets to Egypt, please." Joseph says to the woman at the front desk. "Don't worry about the price, guys. Money is no object. Not now, at least."

  
    Jotaro nods in response as Kakyoin looks a bit embarrassed.

  
    "Next flight's in 2 hours." The woman adds.

  
    "Yup." Joseph takes the tickets from the counter and distributes them. They had found information on upcoming flights beforehand, so this was no shocker. "Do you two have anything you need to get?" He asks Kakyoin. He, Jotaro, and Avdol were staying at Holly's so it was easy enough to pack.

  
    "No...I was in a bit of a rush when I left." Kakyoin responds. "I didn't bring much with me."

  
    Avdol hums. "Yes, I suppose most other thoughts had left your mind at the time."

  
    "Alright then!" Joseph rubs his hands together. "How about some brunch then? That is a thing in Japan, right?"

* * *

  
      
    For a few minutes after they had gotten to the small cafe, it almost seemed normal. Like a normal day out with friends and a grandfather.

  
    They had ordered some random sweets and drinks, and were lounging at a window table they had dragged another chair to.

  
    The cafe was almost sickeningly cutesy. There were chibified foods stuck against a bunch of the windows, and everything was written in bubble text in chalk. Apparently half of the walls were chalkboards.

  
    And so much of it was pink. It made each of them individually wonder why they were here.

  
    "The..." Kakyoin, the one who had suggested the place cuts into their thoughts as more pedestrians pass by, one or two glancing over at them. "The food makes up for it, I swear."

  
    A few soft dings sound through the cafe, each of the servers shouting a greeting as the man with a small pomp walks up to the counter excitedly.

  
    "The differences between Japanese and Egyptian cultures is so much more pronounced now that I'm here in person." Avdol says in an attempt to make conversation.

  
    "Yes, It's a bit shocking, really." Joseph answers as the server brings them their order. "The first time I left home...well, there were many more unpleasant experiences than we've seen so far." He laughs perhaps a bit too loud, drawing the attention of the man with the pomp who was now carrying an incredibly bright drink with a cat drawn in foam on the top.

  
    "Hey."  He says, the dark shadows under his eyes giving him a menacing look as he walks towards them. "Can I speak with you for a moment?" He places a hand heavily onto Joseph's shoulder. "Outside?"

  
    Immediately, the alarm bells ring in all of their heads. They all share a glance, then look back at the stranger. He was a bit shorter than all of them, with the exception of Kakyoin. He was wearing an unbuttoned leather jacket with dull pink highlights, a tank top, and some sort of tight pants. There was a strained smile on his face.

  
    "No..." Joseph answers. "I don't think so."

  
    The strangers face darkens. "I didn't want to mess up the cute decorations in here."

  
    "What?" Avdol asks. The stranger punctuates it with a single punch to the Egyptian man's face, then quickly turns and sweeps the chair from under Jotaro's feet before turning and running to the door, pausing to ensure the group was following him before continuing his flight.

  
    "Who in the hell is that?!" Joseph shouts when they make it to the street.

  
    "I didn't think they would send someone again so soon." Avdol adds on, spitting a bit of blood onto the sidewalk.

  
    "There." Jotaro says, ignoring the conversation between the two older men for chasing the stranger into the large alleyway he had gone into.

  
    He's met with a kick to the shins from his side, the stranger laughing boisterously above him after he falls. "So, Jotaro."

  
    Jotaro glares up at him silently.

  
    "What'd you do ta piss of people in such high places, hmm?" He puts his hands on his shoulders and leaning down with a twisted glare on his face. "Y'know, punks like you really piss me off."

  
    "Ora!" Jotaro announces the punch his stand makes, shoving the strange back against the wall he was so close to with enough force that some blood dripped from his mouth.

  
    "How-?!" He starts, but finds himself restrained by ropes made from fire, a wide mouthed look of surprise on his face as Joseph, Avdol, and Kakyoin join them in the alley, Magician's Red standing with it's arms crossed behind Avdol. "How're you using your personas?!"

  
    "What?" Jotaro answers. "What're you talking about?"

  
    He turns to Avdol and Joseph for an explanation. "Maybe they call stands that in his culture?"

  
    "He's obviously Japanese." Jotaro answers as he crosses his arms.

  
    "Well it don't matter!" The stranger yells, struggling against his bindings and burning himself a bit. "If nothing else, I'm good at takin' a hit!"

  
    But nothing comes of it. He just continues writhing in Magician's Red's grasp. "Summon your stand!" Jotaro yells, quickly growing tired of this.

  
    "Wait." Joseph says, tapping his grandson's broad chest as he walks up to the stranger who tries again to throw a punch at him, only for Joseph to catch it with ease.

  
    And then he does nothing more than muss up the stranger's pomp, earning an outraged cry. But it seems he finds what he's looking for. Snapping his straight palm against the stranger's neck, he quickly falls limp in his bindings, Avdol quickly releasing them and letting him fall to the ground.

  
    "This guy's being mind controlled." He shoves a bit of the hair up, revealing a pulsing lump of flesh previously hidden in the stranger's widow's peak.

  
    "But why?" Kakyoin asks. "From what we saw, it doesn't seem like he has a stand."

  
    "What, you just think there was a problem in Dio's HR department." Jotaro mutters sarcastically as he walks over to the stranger, looking none too pleased with having to remove another person from Dio's control.

  
    It went a lot quicker this time. The flesh hardly had time to pierce his hand before Star Platinum threw it towards Magician's Red, who quickly burnt it to cinders.

  
    "If my hot chocolate got cold, I'll kill him." Jotaro says without a trace of irony.

* * *

  
  
    The next time Kanji woke, it was to a brightly colored ceiling, and a red haired man gently handling his burnt wrists.

  
    "WHAT THE HELL?!" He literally screams when he saw the Japanese writing on the walls. "Who are you?!" He continues in the direction of the red haired man who had recoiled quite a bit.

  
    And then a very hard hand lands on his shoulder, an absolutely huge teen glaring down at him. "Shut up."

  
    "Look, punk-" Kanji starts, but is stopped when the older man interrupts them from across the table.

  
    "Alright, calm down, you two." The bearded man says. "First off, I'm Joseph. What's your name, kid?"

  
    Kanji stands quickly from his seat. "I ain't tellin' you my name! Where are we?!"

  
    "Calm. Down." Joseph repeats, motioning to where the cutesy dressed staff were watching in alarm. Thankfully, that seems to bring Kanji out of his rage a little bit, and he sits back down.

  
    "...Ma name's Kanji Tatsumi." He mutters. "Where are we?"

  
    "We're in Japan." Joseph answers. "Where do you remember being last?"

  
    "I..." Kanji starts, stops for a moment, then starts again. "I was in Egypt. I was studying there fer my degree. Was there for 4 months then..."

  
    "Then?"

  
    "I dunno. Some guy came and started asking me to 'show him my power'." He says with air quotes. "Dunno how he expected me to do that, but I told him to get bent, and now I'm here."

  
    "So you don't have a stand?" Kakyoin cuts in, still the most interested in that point.

  
    "The hell's a stand?" Kanji answers.

  
    "That answers that question." Jotaro murmurs under his breath.

  
    "When you were being mind controlled-" Avdol begins

  
    "I was mind controlled?!" Kanji yells, jumping up from his seat once more to the ire of the employees.

  
    "By Dio." Avdol answers with a nod. "We don't know his exact motives, but he's gathering stand users, presumably to gain control of the world."

  
    "So why'd he get me?" Kanji slowly sits down again.

  
    "Well, when you were mind controlled, you mentioned something about a persona?" Avdol re-states his previous question. "What exactly is that?"

  
    Kanji glances between them all for a moment before sighing. "A persona is the manifestation of your true self. Normally you can only summon it in the TV world but..."

  
    "But?"

  
    "...Can I see one of these stand things you guys keep talking about?"

  
    Immediately, Star Platinum is standing behind Jotaro, Kanji looking up at it open mouthed. By all accounts, it looks exactly like a persona would.

  
    "Hey." Joseph adds in. "You have one of these persona things, right? Why not just try summoning it?"

  
    Kanji pauses. Why didn't he just do that to begin with? "Yeah...good idea."

  
    So he holds his hand out in front of him, concentrating in a way that he hadn't done in years. And to his and everyone else's shock, a very familiar card flutters down into his hand.

  
    "I've...never heard of one summoned this way." Avdol says softly.

  
    "T-Takemikazuchi!" Kanji says, perhaps a bit too loudly and excitedly, crushing the card as the same rush of blue light and feeling of power rushes over him, Tekemikazuchi rising behind him quickly, his large lightning bolt smacking a hanging light a bit as it's head rises to almost hit the ceiling.

  
    "Oh my god!" Joseph yells, looking up in awe. "It's huge!"

  
    "I...I didn't think that that'd work." Kanji says, looking up at his persona, a sense of familiarity hitting him right in the gut.

  
    Thankfully, the staff had gone into the back, so none of them noticed the lights flickering a bit when Takemikazuchi drew near them.

  
    "So what was that TV world that you mentioned?" Joseph asks.

* * *

  
      
    "Wait!" Kanji yells, a large gym bag on his shoulder and plane ticket in hand as he rushes to catch up with them. "You guys're goin to Egypt right? I gotta go back to school there anyway, so I wanna come with you!"

  
    "...Why?" Jotaro asks.

  
    Kanji gives him a confused look. "Cause whoever this Dio guy is, if he went after me, then all my friends are in danger. I ain't gonna sit on my ass when I could be helpin' save them. 'Sides. You guys basically saved my life. I owe ya this much." He finishes, blushing a bit and turning his face down, the dark circles under his eyes looking even more so now.

  
    The other three glance at Jotaro, apparently expecting him to make that decision. "Gimme a break." He turns to Kanji. "Whatever. But don't get in my way."

  
    "Hell yeah!" Kanji fist pumps the air with a look of triumph on his face. "You won't regret this, I promise."  
   


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one might seem a bit rushed. I promise it'll get better. This part of the story, you know, the set-up. Is always hard for me to write.

    Kanji wound up being a dozen or so seats behind the others. He didn't really care. He had a huge headache, probably had something to do with him confronting Jotaro when he was mind controlled.

  
    So he just leaned back in his seat, ignoring the little kid next to him and rustling through the small knapsack he had thankfully had the mind to bring with him and bringing out a small crochet needle and some pastel yarn. He didn't have stuffing with him, but he could just finish them later.

  
    Then an absolutely huge beetle lands on his arm, and he isn't proud of the scream he makes when he stands abruptly from his seat, slapping it off of his arm frantically.

  
    And now his yarn was tangled on the floor. "Dammit." He mutters, sitting back down and carefully taking the yarn off of the ground and getting it untangled from his shoe.

  
    Then the bug lands on his neck. And bites.

  
    And he literally shrieks, flinging himself into the aisle and tossing his yarn back on the floor. Kakyoin peeks out from his seat a few rows ahead. "Kanji?"

  
    When the bug flies past him, he gives it a suspicious look.

  
    "Was that a beetle?" Jotaro asks from where he sits beside him. "A bug on a plane...? Odd..."

  
    Kanji gets up from the floor, walking over to them aggressively. "Avdol." Joseph points to where blood is matting onto Kanji's neck. "Is it a stand? Could Dio have already sent someone after us?"

  
    "JoJo!" Kakyoin shouts. "It's right by your head!"

  
    Kanji watches in horror as the thing they were calling a stand engages with Jotaro, a strange tongue bursting from it's mouth and going directly through Star Platinum's hand, blood bursting from Jotaro's in kind.

  
    "Look out, Jotaro!" Avdol warns. "That is the stand, Tower of Gray! All accounts of it's massacres have told of tongues being ripped from the victims!"

  
    Then blood starts leaking from Jotaro's mouth and Kanji kicks himself into action. "Takemikazuchi!" His persona is able to throw one enormous fist at the bug before he's stopped by Kakyoin.

  
    "Wait!" He shouts as the already dim lights flicker above them. "Your stand uses electricity, right? You can't use it here!"

  
    Realization dawns on Kanji's face, and he quickly dismisses Takemikazuchi, the flickering lights returning to normal as the bug dashes through someone from the jaw up and flying to a wall. "Now." It says in a grating voice. "My goal is..."

  
    Massacre is written on the wall from the blood of the torn tongues.

  
    "I'll burn it alive!" Avdol shouts, though a bit quietly to avoid waking the other passengers.

  
    "Wait!" Kakyoin interrupts once more, placing a hand on Avdol's shoulder, but is interrupted by an old man waking up next to them.

  
    "What's all that noise? Eh, no matter, where's the bathroom." He murmurs, rubbing a hand over his eyes and standing up to head to the bathroom, coincidentally placing his hand on the bloody wall. Muttering a comment about the staff before realizing what is on his hand. "Wait, is that blood?!"

  
    But he's quickly knocked out by Kakyoin. "Sorry about that. But we can't have everyone panicking now, can we? We need to handle this discreetly. Magician's Red might cause the airplane to explode. Takemikazuchi could accidentally break the ships electronics. And we can't have Star Platinum punching a hole through the fuselage."

  
    He turns to the bug, standing ready with a determined look on his face. "I would say this calls for a quiet one like Hierophant Green."

  
    Kanji grits his teeth as the bug taunts Kakyoin, it's shrill voice was quickly grating on his nerves.

  
    But, while in his younger days he might have run in and ignored any of the warnings he had gotten, he found himself rubbing his neck with a wince and stamping out that weird feeling of inferiority he always got in these situations.

  
    So he watched as Kakyoin brought out a slithery looking green stand and shot off what he called an 'Emerald Splash' with a flamboyant pose before the bug shoots out the same disgusting spike like thing from it's mouth, snapping through the armour plate of Heirophant Green and causing blood to splatter out from Kakyoin's mouth.

  
    Kanji almost considered snatching the food try off of the back of one of the chair, but remembered why they were trying to be quiet in the first place when he catches sight of a sleeping child.

  
    Kakyoin shoots another emerald splash, which the bug dodges once more, only to quickly find itself impaled from dozens of sides, a final monologue grating itself out from the bugs mouth before Heirophant Green slices it neatly in half.

  
    Which quickly results in the old man from before screeching from his place on the ground as his tongue is torn in two.

  
    "So it was you all along." Kakyoin comments with a small smirk. "It seems repulsive stands have repulsive users."

* * *

  
      
    "Hey...Jotaro..." Kanji starts awkwardly as the group walks down one of the many streets of Hong Kong, the smoldering plane still in sight in the distance as he scratches his neck lightly and glancing over at him.

  
    "What." Jotaro states, rather than asks.

  
    "You um..." Kanji can't help but keep pausing. He liked to try and cultivate an image of himself where he was confident and in control. Even after the experience with his shadow, he wasn't quite comfortable with being...like that. In public. But he had tried it. Being a bit more flamboyant, that is. And while he didn't dislike it, it still took so much effort to ensure he kept it up that it was distracting.

  
    But being in this group. That he would be with for the next 49 days. That he wanted to make a good impression on. It seemed to be bringing back the awkward 15 year old he used to be. And Jotaro was reminding him way too much of the way he acted then. It was awkward. So he gets that way too familiar blush on his face unintentionally, and turns away.

  
    "N-never mind." He sputters out.

  
    "..." Jotaro glares at him for a moment before turning away and dragging his hat down a bit. "Gimme a break, freakin' idiot."

  
    "Prick." Kanji mutters under his breath, crossing his arms and looking out to the sea.

  
    "Asshole." Jotaro responds.

  
    "Hey!" Kanji turns sharply, ignoring the fact that he has to look up a bit to glare into Jotaro's eyes as he points a tense finger in his direction. "Listen here, punk-!"

  
    "Jotaro! Kanji!" Joseph waves them over to the bus stop he and Kakyoin were standing at. "Hurry it up! The bus will be here soon!"

  
    Jotaro firmly slaps away Kanji's hand and calmly walks towards his grandfather with his hands in his pockets.

  
    Kanji, meanwhile, more stalks towards them, an annoyed snarl on his face and arms swinging at his sides. He had no idea why this kid was pushing his buttons so badly. He'd dealt with pickpockets in a more calm way than this. He had told himself that he would be different. He'd mature, and not be that asshole that everyone just saw as a nuisance.

  
    And he was just falling back into those habits again. As they got on the bus with the few bags they had managed to grab before the plane crashed, he made sure to sit across from Jotaro, pressed against the window and ignoring the teen firmly as Joseph and Avdol chatted in the seats in front of him and Kakyoin got into the window seat beside Jotaro.

  
    "Yo, Old Man." Kanji asks a bit loudly. "Where're we going anyway?"

  
    Joseph rolls his eyes and leans over the chair with one arm. "We're going to a restaurant I came to a few years ago. Gonna talk over some stuff and get back on track. Probably about 20 miles inland."

  
    "Okay, cool." Kanji answers, slapping Joseph's arm lightly and fixing his hair in the reflection of the window before taking his slightly damp yarn and knitting needles from the bag he had been sure to grab.

  
    A small squeeze confirmed that it wasn't to wet to work with, and he returned to work on the small red bear he had been working on.

  
    A few minutes into it, he glances up to find Jotaro staring at him with a slightly amused smirk that, to Kanji's defensive self, looks condescending. "What're you lookin' at?"  
    Jotaro huffs. "Knitting doesn't really fit your image, does it?" He asks in that cold tone, Kakyoin looking over his shoulder to see Kanji's project.

  
    "What d'you mean by that?!" Kanji yells louder than he probably should have, the two adults in front of him glancing back in concern and several others around them who likely didn't even know what he said.

  
    Joseph is giving him a harsh look that suggests very bad things should this continue. Kanji grimaces and shoves the slightly unraveled bear back into his bag and looks down with a grimace.

  
    This happened more often than he would like to admit after he accepted himself. So why was this affecting him so much now? Maybe... just maybe it was because he related to, and almost even respected Jotaro for what he was doing. He never would have been able to do something like this at Jotaro's age. And here he was, exactly like all the people who ever judged him, looking at him and just seeing some weirdo who doesn't fit their image of him.

  
    And he wouldn't stop giving him that stupid look with that furrowed brow. "Stop staring at me, punk." He growls, looking out the window and continuing his reflection.

  
    Jotaro turns away, almost a bit too compliantly. He would admit, he was kind of annoyed with Kanji for a few hours after meeting him, mostly just because he had kicked a chair out from under him, and that had pissed him off. But that was a fleeting anger. And now he was just angry with him because he seemed to have a preconceived notion of who Jotaro was. And that pissed him off even more.

  
    Kakyoin is looking thoroughly confused from his side. He hadn't been around Jotaro or Kanji enough to be able to understand their expressions too well, but neither of them looked too happy with one another. Where that had come from is anyone's guess, though. It seemed like it just came out of nowhere.

  
    And sometimes that's just what happened. Even though they seemed to be pretty similar in some regards, something about each other set them off.

  
    The degree it was at almost made Kakyoin question the depth of this Kanji's character. He knew that Jotaro would do nothing to stop, or even delay this journey. And even though the older man seemed to be sincere after the removal of the flesh bud, there was no knowing for sure.

  
    It almost seemed unfair, but Kakyoin would make sure to keep a healthy bit of waryness when it came to situations involving Kanji from now on.

* * *

  
  
    Kanji only remembered when they sat down in the restaurant that he knew jack shit about chinese. So he just decided he was going to order whatever Kakyoin did. They were both japanese...they probably had similar tastes?

  
    To one side, Kakyoin was explaining something about a teapot, and Joseph was inently reading from the menu. It would have been useful, but he was muttering in English. That had been one of the classes Kanji had had the most problems with. When he had moved to Egypt, he had picked up the language pretty quickly. But that probably had something to do with moving into the country.

  
    Then there was a tall guy with a flat top standing next to their table with a nervous smile. "Excuse me. Sorry to be a bother, but I'm a traveler from France. I can't read this chinese menu, could you help me decipher it?"

  
    "Shut up." Jotaro says and waves his hand dismissively in the man's direction. "Go on, get out."

  
    It makes Kanji annoyed. Not because he was telling off a random guy. Hell, if he didn't Kanji probably would have. But because he was becoming way too aware of all the similarities in their attitudes.

  
    "Just siddown." Kanji says through grit teeth, tugging out the chair from between him and Joseph, who quickly offers to read the menu to the french man who looks a lot more uncomfortable than expected.

  
    Joseph wound up ordering dozens of dishes. The table was almost completely covered, but he just smiled and waved off anyone's questions, stating it was on him and giving a hearty laugh.

  
    He must have more money available to him than Kanji had thought. He didn't really think of him as anything special before, and this didn't really change anything. But at least now maybe this trip would do less of a blow to his savings than he had first thought.

  
    "Such an eye for detail." The french man says dreamily, looking up at a fancily cut carrot at the end of his chopsticks. "It's almost a pity to eat it."

  
    But then he gets a darker look, and holds the carrot up with his hands. "This shape though...It seems so familiar."

  
    Everyone simultaneously looks at him with nigh identical expressions of suspicion mirrored on each of their faces, Kanji and Jotaro standing slightly in their panic.

  
    Then he holds it by one of his shoulders. "That's right. I have a friend who has a mark just like this...on his back."

  
    "You!" Kakyoin yells, slamming a fist to the table "You're-"

  
    And Kanji quickly picks up and swings his chair into the french man's side with a war cry, getting gasps from several of the other patrons and a shocked yelp as a leg flies off and hits Joseph.

  
    "Look out!" Avdol yells as a silver form pulls itself up from a cup on the table, swinging at Kanji only for the blade to be blocked by Joseph's prosthetic hand. The Egyptian quickly turns, though, and summons his stand with a shout, only for the fire to be swatted to the side and flung at the table which easily tumbles over and suddenly has a clock imprinted on it in flames.

  
    "My stand is the chariot card, Silver Chariot." The french man says as Silver Chariot stands behind him with his sword thrust out and his hips locked. "I've carved a burning clock into that table." He motions to the table.

  
    "And I will kill you before it strikes 12."


End file.
